1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for monitoring a plurality of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices, and in particular to a method and an apparatus for monitoring a plurality of UPs devices in a network system.
2. Background of the Invention
Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices are widely used to protect telecommunication systems, data and computing systems and other electrical systems from power failure where loss of data or signals can have a detrimental impact to the operation of the system. Generally, a UPS device contains a charging circuit that is powered by an AC power source and a rechargeable battery that is continuously charged by the charging circuit during operation. The system that is protected by the UPS device is either powered by the battery or the AC power source via the UPS device. If power failure does occur and the AC power source is interrupted during operation, the battery continues to power the system until the AC power source is able to resume supplying power, which then replenishes the battery's energy. In other instances, such as in a computer system, for example, the battery of the UPS device stores a charge that is just sufficient to operate the system until the system is able to back up its data in a volatile memory (such as random access memory) to a more stable non-volatile memory (such as a disk drive), thereby ensuring that no data is lost.
There are many instances in which an operation is performed by multiple systems requiring several UPS devices. For example, an Internet service provider may use multiple servers to provide its Internet service, wherein each server is protected by a UPS device. These servers provide for the interchange of information for numerous clients that have access to the servers. Typically, the servers are in a single location or they are dispersed in various locations. In either case, because there are numerous UPS devices involved, it is difficult to keep track of the status and state of those various UPS devices. In one known method, a service personnel is employed to make regular rounds to check on the UPS devices and correct any abnormalities. However, this method is time consuming, inefficient and further is unable to detect UPS device problems between service rounds.